Choosing an initial teacher training (ITT) pathway:
early findings from the Becoming a Teacher project
Paper delivered at British Educational Research Association, UMIST, 16th September 2004
Andrew J Hobson (University of Nottingham)
Angi Malderez (University of Leeds)
Louise Tracey (University of Nottingham)
Kirstin Kerr (University of Nottingham)
Godfrey Pell (University of Leeds)
Choosing an initial teacher training (ITT) pathway:
early findings from the Becoming a Teacher project
Hobson AJ(1), Malderez A(2), Tracey L(1), Kerr K(1) & Pell G(2)
(1) School of Education, University of Nottingham
(2) School of Education, University of Leeds
Abstract
This paper presents findings relating to trainee teachers’ choices of ITT pathways in England. Data were generated via a questionnaire survey completed by approximately 4,400 trainees across a range of ITT routes, and via in-depth interviews with a sub-set of 81 case study participants. The main findings were: (1) that at the point of application to ITT, trainees had a differential awareness of the range of ITT pathways; (2) the vast majority of trainees were following their first choice of ITT route, and (3) trainees’ reasons for selecting routes varied according to the type of ITT pathway they were following and seem appropriate to the specific characteristics of those pathways.
Introduction
The Becoming a Teacher (BaT) project aims to investigate teachers’ experiences of Initial Teacher Training (ITT), induction and Early Professional Development (EPD) in England. The research is sponsored by the Department for Educational Skills (DfES), The General Teaching Council for English (GTCE) and the Teacher Training Agency (TTA).
In this paper, we discuss some issues arising from the first year of this six year longitudinal study, in which the research has focused upon why people chose to undertake ITT, their preconceptions and expectations of teaching and training, and why people opt for particular routes into teaching. Specifically, we present findings relating to this last area.
Context
In recent years, the number of routes to achieving Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) has increased markedly, as has the number of people applying to train as teachers. In the academic year 2003-2004 there were 33,930 teacher trainees, compared to just 25,970 in 1999-2000 (DfES 2004)[1]. Alongside this, an increasingly diverse range of training routes and programmes has been established, including both undergraduate and graduate training programmes. At an undergraduate level, trainees gain both a first degree and QTS, while at a graduate level trainees must hold a first degree or equivalent, either relevant to the subject they are to teach, or, if their degree is in a non-related subject, have substantial relevant experience.
There are presently seven main ITT routes, which are outlined below:
(1) Bachelor of Arts (BA) / Science (BSc) with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS)
(2) Bachelor of Education (BEd)
These undergraduate, higher education institution (HEI)-administered programmes allow trainees to achieve a Bachelors’ degree as well as Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), and include substantive HEI input together with in-school experiences. Traditionally these programmes lasted for three or four years, though the length of programmes has become more variable, and some institutions now offer two year programmes (designed for entrants with professional qualifications equivalent to degree level study). Although trainees on these routes do not receive a training bursary, they may apply for funding if training to teach a designated shortage subject. The maximum amounts that can be awarded per year are £5,000 for those under 24 and £7,500 to those aged 24 or over, with awards being based on need. Trainees have to make a contribution towards the cost of university tuition fees.
(3) University-administered Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE)
(4) Flexible PGCE
These postgraduate HEI-administered routes have both a substantive HEI input and a substantial period of training in (a minimum of two) schools. Programmes typically last for one academic year (full time), or five academic years (flexible). Trainees are eligible for a tax free £6,000 training bursary, generally paid in monthly instalments from October to June of their PGCE year, and home students have their course fees paid. Flexible trainees receive their bursary in two payments: £3,000 when they register for their first assessment module, and £3,000 on achieving QTS.
(5) School Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT)
In this graduate route a single school or a consortium of schools is primarily responsible for a programme of initial teacher training. Depending on the training provided, trainees may achieve solely QTS, or may have the opportunity to gain additional academic qualifications, namely a PGCE. Programmes typically last for one academic year. As with the PGCE, trainees are eligible for a tax free £6,000 training bursary, generally paid in monthly instalments, and home students have their tuition fees paid.
(6) Graduate and Registered Teacher Programmes (GRTP)
These ‘employment-based’ training routes offer QTS only. In the Graduate Teacher Programme (GTP) trainees take-up a salaried teaching post and achieve QTS while in-post, with the GTP typically lasting for one academic year. By contrast, the Registered Teaching Programme (RTP) is open to those who do not yet hold a degree but have qualifications equivalent to the first two years of Bachelor’s degree study. Typically, the RTP is a two-year programme during which trainees will be employed in a teaching post, whilst also completing a further year of degree-level study on a part time basis. Trainees receive a salary from their training school of, at minimum, £13,599 – this being equal to the minimum salary for an unqualified teacher.
(7) Fast Track[2]
This graduate route seeks to recruit candidates of high academic calibre with the specific purpose of training teachers able to progress rapidly into management positions, and to be able to take additional whole school responsibilities. Trainees follow an agreed individual development plan and have access to centrally funded professional development opportunities, over and above activities provided at school/LEA level, and trainees are expected to commit additional time to these. Trainees also receive a laptop, digital camera and colour printer, and are provided with online support specifically geared to their needs. There are also a number of financial incentives for Fast Track trainees, including an additional £5,000 Fast Track bursary (over and above the £6,000 usually received by graduate trainees), a higher starting salary as an NQT, and a Fast Track recruitment and retention allowance.
Of the routes set out above, the full-time PGCE remains most popular with prospective teachers. Yet, much of the recent growth in trainee numbers has occurred in the ‘non-traditional’ school centred and employment based routes. For example, the numbers of trainees following the GTP rose from 930 in 1999-2000 to an expected 6,170 during the 2003-4 academic/school year (DfES 2004).
Recent years have also witnessed a change in the demographic characteristics of those entering the teaching profession. The age of those entering teaching is rising, with the TES (30.05.03) reporting that around half of trainee teachers in England are over 25 years old, whilst a third are over 30. In encouraging a diversity of training routes, the Teacher Training Agency (TTA) has anticipated that the provision of different training routes will suit the needs of different demographic groups, and create opportunities to widen the pool of potential teachers by encouraging different kinds of entrants, in differing personal circumstances, to consider teaching as a career. David Bell (Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Ofsted) has argued, for example, that school centred and employment based training routes:
[make] training available… at a very local level and in places that are not well served by other ITT providers. This enables those, typically mature entrants, often with childcare or other personal circumstances that make it impossible to follow more traditional routes, to train as teachers. (National Association of School Based Teacher Trainers Annual Conference 2003)
This paper casts more light on these issues by examining trainees’ motives for choosing the various ITT routes (and, in the future, the BaT study will examine possible relationships between trainees’ motives for choosing ITT route and their actual experiences of ITT, induction, EPD, and any decisions about whether or not to remain in the profession).
That different training routes may target prospective teachers from different demographic groups raises a number of additional issues. Whilst trainee teachers’ experience of ITT may impact upon their subsequent development as teachers, the experiences people have had prior to entering teacher training may, to some extent, shape what they look for in a training programme, how they interpret different aspects of their training, and how they develop their identities as teachers (Richardson 1997; Sugrue 1996). Edwards and Ogden (1998) found that many trainees “come into schools with ready made identity projects they want to enact” (Edwards 1998: 218). Yet it is not clear to what extent this resulted from their earlier experiences of ITT, from the beliefs and personality traits held prior to embarking on ITT, or from the interaction of the two elements.
O’Hara and Cameron-Jones (1997) reported survey findings combined with an analysis of final grades received by graduating PGCE and BEd primary trainees, suggesting that the two routes produce teachers with different strengths. Those trainees who followed the PGCE were identified as being relatively stronger on assessment and subject content, while those who followed the BEd were seen to be stronger on the classroom skills of communication and management. Whilst this lends weight to the suggestion that different training routes may have differential impacts, it also raises questions about the skills and knowledge that trainees bring to their programmes, and whether trainees anticipate particular outcomes and choose their training route accordingly. It is possible that trainees with certain characteristics, expectations and biographies are attracted to different training routes, and that these factors, which are external to the content of training programmes, may do much to shape their subsequent experiences of training and teaching.
The design of the BaT project acknowledges that comparisons between the different ITT routes can be problematic for a variety of reasons, including the fact that the characteristics of trainees taking different routes can be very different, as can the selection procedures employed by different providers within and across routes (Draper and Sharp 1999). Legitimate comparisons would also need to take into account variation in ITT provision, across providers, within the same route. How these methodological issues have been addressed is explored in the next section.
Research Design
The findings reported in this paper are based upon the analysis of data generated from the first phase of data collection in 2003-2004. Two forms of data generation were employed: firstly, a self completion questionnaire, administered to trainee teachers in their final (or sole) year of ITT; and secondly, in-depth interviews with a sub-sample of the above group. Research instruments were informed by a systematic review of the literature on ITT.
The self completion questionnaire was distributed, during the academic year 2003-2004, to trainee teachers who were due to complete their ITT programmes in 2004. The sampling strategy underlying the questionnaire survey was informed by two main concerns. Firstly, we sought to generate a representative sample of student teachers in England from within each of the ITT routes being studied. Secondly, it was hoped to ensure that a sufficient number of trainees were recruited from among the routes with least training places, in order to enable viable statistical analysis by route up to the end of the project (allowing for attrition over a five year period). ITT providers were then stratified by route and a random sample of providers within each route was selected. In addition, a small number of providers were purposively selected to boost the numbers of certain types of trainees among the smaller routes. A total of 110 providers were approached to participate in the survey, of which 74 took part.
In terms of the issues explored through the questionnaire survey, trainees were asked to respond to a range of questions including (of particular relevance to this paper):
(1) Were they following their first choice of ITT route?
(2) Were they aware of different ITT routes? and
(3) What factors influenced their choice of ITT route?
Questionnaire respondents were also asked to indicate whether they would be willing to participate further in the study, most notably through a series of face-to-face interviews.
The findings from 4,393 questionnaire responses are reported here, with this total including those training to teach both in primary and secondary schools, and those following a range of subject specialisms. The breakdown of respondents by ITT route was as follows:
· 1,571 university-administered Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE)
· 138 Flexible PGCE
· 1,384 Bachelor of Arts (BA) / Science (BSc) with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS)
· 399 Bachelor of Education (BEd)
· 564 Graduate and Registered Training Programme (GRTP)
· 337 trainees based in School-Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) consortia.
Comparison with the national profile data currently available (i.e. TTA Performance Profile data for 2003) suggests that (for HEI-administered undergraduate and postgraduate ITT programmes and for employment-based routes) the achieved sample is representative of all trainees by gender and ethnicity.
Following the self completion questionnaire, a sub-sample of 84 trainees was identified to take part in case study interviews. These trainees were purposively selected to allow for comparable samples to be developed for each route. Case study trainees were drawn from a minimum of three ITT providers per route (from a total of 18 providers[3]), and the sample was further stratified by phase, and subsequently, insofar as possible, by subject specialism, gender, age and ethnicity. In this paper we report on the analysis of 81 interview transcripts. These included 16 PGCE trainees, 14 BA/BSC QTS trainees, 8 BEd trainees, 11 flexible route PGCE trainees, 14 SCITT and 18 GRTP (14 GTP and 4 RTP) trainees.
Case study and questionnaire data were analysed concurrently and iteratively, with the findings in one strand informing interrogations in the other. The questionnaire data were analysed using SPSS software. The case study data were initially subjected to a grounded/inductive analysis, the findings of which informed a subsequent thematic analysis of the data. All transcripts were coded using NVivo software which facilitated comparison between trainees undertaking different training routes. Whether trainees talked about particular issues spontaneously, or as a result of specific prompts from the interviewer, was taken into account during the coding process.